Photos

Saturday, 18 April 2015

Grand Bazaar Istanbul

Grand Bazaar – Gigantic!

Covered Bazaar

﻿﻿In Turkish the Grand Bazaar is called Kapalı Çarşı, which means “Covered or Closed Bazaar”. It is not the oldest bazaar in the world – a better claim would belong to Tabriz, Persia, a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. Even though Constantinople was the main terminus of the Silk Trade Routes (see the Silk Routes Map), the Grand Bazaar was only started in 1455, just after the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium. Of course, there were commercial “forums” before then but the Grand Bazaar was covered. Perhaps we can say this was the oldest indoor shopping centre.

Books on the Grand Bazaar

Sirkeci Mansion

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It’s hard to believe we are back in Istanbul for our second four-day sojourn. Eight days may seem like a lot of time but in some ways it feels like we are just scratching the surface. For maps and travel advice we would recommend the book Rick Steve's Istanbul and the free Quick Guide Istanbul(author Serif Yenen), which I believe we got at our fabulous hotel, Sirkeci Mansion. The Quick Guide is a set of cardboard brochures including a glossy map and info on the Grand Bazaar.

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Tram from Sultanahmet

Getting to the Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar west side can be reached by tram at the Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı stop. For the east side, we hopped on the modern electric tram to the earlier Çemberlitaş stop.

Çemberlitaş Column

Shopkeepers

The first thing we saw was the Çemberlitaş column. It was constructed by Emperor Constantine in 330 CE to celebrate the town Byzantium being renamed Nova Roma and becoming the capital of the Roman Empire. However, the people called it Constantinople (city of Constantine) and that name stuck. Yes it was still called the Roman Empire even after Rome fell. The term Byzantine Empire is a 16th century German invention.

Ottoman Artifacts

The
Çemberlitaş column was so damaged by an
earthquake in 416 CE that it is on life support with iron hoops holding it
together. The top of the column used to
support a statue of Constantine that lasted until it was toppled by a storm in
1106.The column is ugly but it’s the
last remnant from Constantine, who put Istanbul and Christianity on the map and
thus changed world history.In fact, the
column marked the centre of the forum, Constantinople's main square.

At
its peak in 200 CE, it is estimated that Rome had 1,000,000 people. This
decreased dramatically due to various plagues brought in via the Silk Routes
and then the fall of Rome.Constantinople then became the largest and wealthiest city of Europe up
until its zenith in the 12th century with a population of around
600,000 people (600 CE).

Venice was both
a trade partner and adversary of the Byzantine Empire, sacking Constantinople
in 1204, seizing many of its Mediterranean territories, and carting off many treasures, including the metal decorations around the Çemberlitaş column. Venice was one of the three largest cities in
Europe in 1171 with a population of a mere 66,000 people.

Nuruosmaniye Gate

Nuruosmaniye Gate

Nuruosmaniye Walking
north towards the Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1755), we entered the oldest gate,
Nuruosmaniye, near the Nuruosmaniye Köftecisi (meatball shop).Nuruosmaniye means sacred light of Osman, the
name of the family that became known as the Ottomans.The gate leads to the main east-west street,
Kalpakcilar Caddesi or Hat Maker Street. Today this is jewelry alley.

Explore Side Streets

The
Ottoman Empire not only controlled a vast area across three continents,
but had complete monopoly of the former Silk Routes.As the hub for Mediterranean trade, it is
logical that this led to an enormous shopping mall (47,600 sq. m.) covering 61
streets.Each street was dedicated to a
particular trade or bedesten.Because
the Grand Bazaar was a caravansary, there used to be places to house the camels and the
people. To ensure security, the bazaar
was closed at night.

Zincirli Han

Zincirli Han

There are many
hans, multi-storey buildings surrounding an inner courtyard.The lower floor would be for animals.In the middle of the coral-coloured Zincirli
Han is a courtyard with a marble fountain for washing.This han specialized used to specialize in
chains, zincir. Today it houses down-to-earth jewelry shops and we did not get
hassled while in this han.

3,000+Shops

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Elegant Boutique

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The
Grand Bazaar is an overwhelming patchwork of 3,000+ simple shops and elegantly
decorated boutiques.We generally
followed the self-guided tour in Rick Steve's book.There are some signs hanging from the arched
roof above you at major intersections but it’s good to get off the main
streets.Make sure you go off the main
streets into the side alleys and courtyards. There were amazing things to see –
glinting gold, shiny silver, and suave silks.I cannot see any Turkish woman wearily such slinky dresses, at least not
in public.

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Colourful Lights

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The
photos show three of our favourite shops. The classic multi-coloured lamps made
of glass can be seen throughout Turkey. In fact, many hotels and restaurants
use them for decorative lighting. Because Islam forbade images in the mosques, artists excelled in calligraphy and geometric motifs.

Exquisite Pottery

There is a lot of overpriced
pottery for the tourists.One store in
the north part of the bazaar was spectacular. While the prices were high -
especially for the large vases and other pieces – the quality was very high as
well.

Ottoman Dress

Another shop had incredible
Ottoman clothing, supposedly antique. We were skeptical until the owner said the
display robes were not for sale. Nevertheless, it was hard to believe that the
displayed clothes were that old, given their great condition.

Ottoman Clothing

In
2014, it was the most-visited tourist attraction in the world with 91,250,000
visitors – that’s an average of 250,000 shoppers each day!

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The purpose of this blog is to ignite your
sense of wonder and help you appreciate travelling and learning about the world. It covers art, architecture, culture and traditions that are
relevant to travel. Interesting stories highlight how one culture has impacted another culture.

We have lived and travelled around the world, particularly in Europe (7 years), North and Central America. We have led courses and seminars on travel and culture appreciation at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan Univ. and the Edmonton Convention Centre. We plan all of our trip itineraries by computer.